Saturday, 16 Volunteer Boxers--financial Traders And Clerks--will Enter The Ring To Help Raise Money For The Mercy Home.

Dashing through the crowded financial floor at the Chicago Board of Trade, the 36-year-old clerk constantly checks a complex system of paperwork to ensure that the proper deals have been made by traders in the CBOT pit.

But instead of relaxing at home after each frantic eight-hour shift, Sciacotta has spent the last two months pursuing a different kind of adrenaline rush. He has hopped into a boxing ring twice a week to train for what could be the most charitable three minutes of his life.

Saturday night, Bobby Sciacotta will make his public boxing debut as one of 16 volunteer fighters from the CBOT, Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Options Exchange who will face off at "RingSide 1999." The eighth annual fundraising event for the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the downtown Marriott, as donors enjoy a lavish meal and watch competing traders and clerks duke it out in a center ring.

"It's nice fighting for the kids, because this is a great cause for children who have no parents," said Sciacotta. "But it's also nice knowing that I can hit somebody without getting sued."

Such humorous bravado comes in handy when fighting in the RingSide events, which were created after former CBOT Chairman Patrick Arbor recalled his own experiences boxing in the Catholic Youth Organization league's facilities in the basement of Mercy Home while living there in the 1950s. Arbor had moved out of the Catholic-run foster home and on to success in the trading world, but had not been in contact with the residence for years until one night in 1990.

Driving past its main location at 1140 W. Jackson Blvd. with a friend who had also grown up there, Arbor saw Rev. Jim Close, current Mercy Home director, standing alone outside. Close was contemplating potential fundraising measures for the home, which had suffered financially in the wake of the notorious Jim and Tammy Bakker PTL Network religious fundraising scandal. Within minutes, Arbor agreed to join the Mercy Home board of directors and soon seized upon the unique RingSide concept.

"At the time, the Bakker scandal had discredited fundraising for religious movements, but I thought having bouts between the CBOT and Merc would be a fun idea," said Arbor. "Besides, the home had a long history of training its residents in the art of boxing."

The idea has paid off, with RingSide organizers expecting to take in $300,000 from this year's event. The money will come in handy as the 112-year-old organization, which currently houses and counsels 90 youths between its Jackson home for boys and a girls' home in Beverly, attempts to renovate an Adams Street property that will ultimately house 30 additional residents.

The overall cost of the three-year renovation is estimated at $9 million, and that expense comes on top of the organization's $5.7 million annual budget. The dramatic impact that the homes have on the lives of troubled youths provides the inspiration fighters like Sciacotta need to literally take one on the chin for a cause.

"The main thing is conditioning, because if you're well-conditioned, keep your head and hands up and jab, it'll be a quick three minutes," said CBOT trader Dan Neylon, during a sparring match with Sciacotta. "Otherwise, it'll be the longest three minutes of your life."